Rest, Repair, Renew: How Quality Sleep Protects Your Kidneys and Brain

Transcript

Sleep's Impact on Overall Health

Speaker 1 0:08

Hi friends , it's Kimberly here , registered Nurse and Business Development Director with Specialty Care Management . Hey , so are you aware of the huge benefits for your kidneys , your brain , your weight , your overall health and well wellbeing that come with sleep ? I know sleep sometimes gets a lot of buzz , a lot of press , but sometimes we don't really understand the magnificent ways and all the work that our body does at night when we sleep . So we really don't understand why it's so important Um years ago . Uh , you know it's so important Years ago . You know , I think we all have crunch zones .

Speaker 1 0:46

Years ago , when I was in military , I actually got a commendation for I call it my no sleep award , right , we had a period where we just didn't have the staff and underway and having to maintain you know the work in the radio shack . Back then I was in telecommunications and , uh , I'd average three hours of sleep a night . I do not recommend it . I know a lot of folks talk about hey , outline needs five hours . You know that's really not true . Don't short yourself with sleep . It's soon , unles you're wartime , right , but super , super important . Your body does a lot of work at night when you sleep , one of the most important aspects and ways that sleep can impact your kidneys in particular is with sleep apnea

Sleep Apnea and Kidney Damage

Speaker 1 1:33

. Did you know ? If you have untreated sleep apnea , what happens then is that , basically , you're not . You're really not able to breathe and sleep at the same time . You might feel like you're sleeping right . Really , what you're doing is dozing in and out , and when you rouse to breathe , you know you're in and out . You don't get any quality sleep . So there's that impact . The other aspect , and the way that this hurts your kidneys in particular , is that you know our bodies are designed to pick up the slack for other body parts when they're not pulling their weight right . If you have a knee problem , you're going to ginger that a little bit . The one side is going to compensate for the other side . It's no different with the kidneys or with the heart and the lungs , and so what happens here is that if you have untreated sleep apnea and you're not breathing , the heart says don't worry about it , I got your lungs , I'm just going to pick up and I'm going to work a little harder for you , right ? So what happens then is the heart , like any muscle . The heart is a muscle and , just like any muscle that gets worked , it's going to grow .

Speaker 1 2:44

People who have untreated sleep apnea develop cardiomegaly and congestive heart failure . All that means is you got an oversized heart that's not able to pump effectively and efficiently , and so what happens in congestive heart failure is we end up with fluid volume overload , and that's just because the heart , it , can't do the work that's required to pump effectively and the blood backs up into the lungs . That's why people with congestive heart failure have a hard time breathing . Basically , they have heartburn . They're basically drowning in their own fluids , right , you also get it back up into the body .

Speaker 1 3:22

Now that can manifest in terms of swelling in your legs . Do you have swelling or puffiness in your legs ? Some people don't , some people they hold it all in their bellies , and so it can be a little bit deceiving If your practitioner , your nurse or physician asks you ever get swelling in your legs and you think no , so I don't have any trouble . That's not necessarily true . How about your abdomen ? Does your abdomen feel tight ? Sometimes we'll actually measure abdominal girth , because all that extra fluid is being stored in the abdomen . That extra fluid , fluid volume overload , puts a lot of pressure on the kidneys . That extra pressure does a lot of damage to the delicate structures that make up the kidneys , your glomeruli , right , and that's how sleep apnea leads to kidney disease , as those nephrons and the glomeruli are destroyed . Then people lose their

Body's Nighttime Restoration Process

Speaker 1 4:18

kidney function . Super duper important Now also , sleep has a lot of other factors there's .

Speaker 1 4:23

So that's when the road crews come out here . Well , I don't live in North Idaho anymore , but in North Idaho we basically have two seasons , right , we have road construction and winter . So when the weather's good , it's road construction . A lot of road construction happens at night , right , that's when the night crews come out and they chew up debris that they don't want there anymore . Dump trucks come in and haul the debris away . New materials brought in .

Speaker 1 4:52

It's a lot of work that happens at night and it's the same process in your body . Your body's doing a lot of sloughing , getting rid of cellular debris and waste , particularly in our brains . Did you know that there's a lot of sloughing that happens at night ? Your body's letting go of things that no longer serve you , and we really shortchange that process when we don't have enough adequate sleep . It's super important Also with maintaining your weight . When you think about that , we put our bodies under severe stress . That happens when we're sleep deprived , right , our adrenals kick in , steroid levels go up . That obviously has an implication in blood sugars and inflammation in general .

Speaker 1 5:39

Your body needs sleep . It's super important . If you don't have a good sleep habit right now , you might think about what you might need to do to develop good

Creating Effective Sleep Hygiene

Speaker 1 5:51

sleep habits . A lot of times , matter of fact , I was just talking with this with my our 18 year old son , who's having a hard time navigating getting enough sleep and being able to get up on time for things . It's super important . He wants to be an early riser , but it's so hard . So if that's you , or if your sleep is disturbed , I'm going to encourage you to be curious about that . What's getting in the way of your sleep ? Is it pain ? Is pain keeping you up ? If so , you want to make sure that you talk to your nurse , your doctor , your practitioner about that . There's a lot of things that you can do to mitigate pain without medications , which is fantastic . One of the great ways to be able to do that and feel comfortable is gentle stretching and gentle exercises , as approved by your provider , to help lubricate the joints and melt away any tension that's happened during the day .

Speaker 1 6:47

Now , also keep in mind that our sleep , if you go back to like if you've had little children , or if you imagine if you have little children . Usually mamas and daddies take some time to help their kids get ready for bed . Right , bedtime just doesn't look like okay , you know , lay down and go to sleep right . Typically there's a bath and there's story time and there's a little , maybe a little cheese , a little , a little snack , a light snack , something like that , and this is important . This sets a ritual to help prepare the child for sleep . Well , you and I are much different than our little children friends , right ? Making sure that we have a nice routine to help facilitate sleep is also really helpful . You might set a little alarm or reminder that , hey , it's time to get ready for bed . One of my favorite triggers is a cup of warm chamomile tea . Sometimes I don't even drink it , but the act of even making that warm drink is very soothing and it signals to me that , hey , it's time to stop working , or it's time to stop , it's time to turn off the TV .

Speaker 1 8:01

Reading is another wonderful activity A lot of people enjoy . I'm going to encourage you , though , to ditch the blue light reading in your bed . Right , blue light . We know that impacts the back of the retina and kind of tricks your brain to thinking that it should be active and more like it would be during the daytime . Sometimes people put on a blue light blocker . I like old-fashioned books . Call me a renaissance chick , but give me an old-fashioned book at bedtime and that's my perfect go-to to help me slide into a nice little slumber . A nice warm bath is also very relaxing and refreshing and , believe it or not , science shows that when we hop into a hot bath before bed , we actually help our body cool down for sleep much faster . Interesting phenomenon Having your bedroom at a nice sleeping temperature , where it's not overly hot a cool sleeping temperature is really helpful .

Speaker 1 9:01

Some people need a soothing sounds like . Maybe a sound block or a fan or some pink noise can be really helpful for sleep . If sleep is difficult , I'm also going to encourage you to get the TV out of your bedroom . Don't fall asleep with the TV on . We trick ourselves . A lot of people think , well , I put that on and that helps me go to sleep . I promise you it doesn't . It's going to interfere with your sleep . We need to get that out of the bedroom . These are some techniques that we call sleep hygiene . Sleep hygiene are things that we do to set up an environment such that it's conducive to help us achieve and maintain optimal sleep .

Speaker 1 9:39

And when you wake up , it's super important Make sure that you're allowing the space for yourself to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep at night . That absolutely is going to help your night crew to come out and do a lot of the restoring and regenerative work that your body's begging you for . It's so important . Now we haven't talked about exercise yet , but keep in mind that exercise first thing in the morning does so much for your brain , right , that exercise first thing in the morning does so much for your brain , right ? Matter of fact , we know that exercise early morning , getting a little sweat on

Modern Sleep Studies and CPAP Options

Speaker 1 10:14

early morning , helps your brain secrete brain derived neurotropic factor . This is basically like a juice , a restorative juice for your brain that really helps regenerate the nerve cells in your brain . Super important . How'd you like to be a little sharper , a little quicker , make better decisions during the day ? We can do a lot of that when we have proper sleep the night before . Wake up ready to go , get a little bit of a little bit of sweat on , get some juice in the joints , get moving your joints and I promise you you will see an overall uptick in your energy throughout the day .

Speaker 1 10:52

If you snore , or if your partner ever thumps you in the middle of the night telling you to stop snoring or to wake up and breathe , might be time to talk to your provider . Ask them about a sleep study . It's so important . Remember , if you have untreated sleep apnea , you are developing congestive heart failure and that absolutely has an impact on your kidneys . Now a lot of folks are kind of concerned about that . They think that , well , if I get diagnosed , I'm going to have to wear that thing on my face . Right , feels like a jockstrap on my face and that is not appealing . I can't sleep with that . Well , keep right , feels like a jockstrap on my face and that is not appealing . I can't sleep with that .

Speaker 1 11:33

Well , keep in mind there are a lot of options today . Matter of fact , sleep studies have changed . You no longer have to go into an inpatient or a facility or the hospital to have an in-center sleep study . A lot of times you can do your sleep study at home and it costs less . There should be less out of pocket for you want to check with your insurance and ask them what's covered and how that's covered . Ask them about a home sleep study and who in your network provides that . But the sleep study , matter of fact , my husband did that some years ago . They sent out a little box . He put the little device on his head , a little oximeter on this finger , had a peaceful night's sleep , woke up , put it all in the box , put it out on the porch and it was gone Easy peasy . So you know , don't worry about you , know I have to take time off to go into this center . You don't have to do that , it's really easy . Ask your provider about a home sleep study . The other thing too , to keep in mind if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea .

Speaker 1 12:33

Cpaps have come a long way . As a matter of fact , now my husband still has a mask that he wears over his face . Now my mom , on the other hand , has cute little nasal pillows , and they're pink . Who doesn't get excited about that Little bitty nasal pillows ? They're super soft and they just fit over the nose . Very small , very comfortable and easy to acclimate to .

Speaker 1 12:56

Many people find that getting used to the sleep app , to their CPAP is made a little bit more comfortable when they put that on just when they're reading or relaxing , maybe when you're watching some TV and you don't have to do much and you can kind of let yourself relax . Newer models also have a ramp up feature where it's very gentle until you drift off and then it will pick up for you . There's the newer models and the newer CPAPs are very intuitive and keep in mind , if you don't like your CPAP or your mask , your DME company the company that supplies your equipment is absolutely motivated to help make sure that they get a device and a mask for you that's comfortable , right ? They're not going to make money if you're not using it , so it behooves them to make sure that they get you a setup that you're going to be comfortable with .

Speaker 1 13:46

So please , if you do start on the CPAP and you're not happy with it , don't just tuck it away or don't suck it up . Make sure that

Closing Thoughts on Sleep Health

Speaker 1 13:54

you speak up and get some help with that . Your nurse coach here is happy to help as well If you have questions or concerns . It's one of our favorite things to talk about and we're here to help you have greater energy , greater well-being and reach your goals . And a lot of that starts at night , while you sleep . Make it a great day .